‘Uncle Yanco’: Agnès Varda’s search for family
As the French New Wave swept across the world and changed cinema forever, many young auteurs emerged as groundbreaking pioneers of the cinematic medium. Alongside the young radicals such as Jean-Luc Godard and François Truffaut, several older French filmmakers also garnered attention for their unique experiments, and they were labelled as the Left Bank. While the Left Bank was made up of talented visionaries such as Alain Resnais and Chris Marker, very few were as universally beloved as the great Agnès Varda.
Known for her vastly influential masterpieces, such as Cléo from 5 to 7 and Vagabond, Varda developed a fascinating framework of cinematic realism that oscillated between the domains of documentary filmmaking and dramatic narrative. This constant interaction between reality and fiction forms a constant undercurrent in Varda’s filmography, resulting in the creation of an unapologetically original cinematic vision that captures the infinite nuances of the world like no other.
During one of the last interviews of her life with The Guardian, Varda revealed how reality always served as an inspiration to her. While reflecting on her first project, the revered auteur said: “Mostly, reality inspires me. I did a lot of films with simple people. My first film, called La Pointe Courte, was with fishermen. And when I made The Gleaners and I, it was so important to put a finger on the huge waste of our society. An incredible waste.”
In the same conversation, Varda also hoped that her fans would remember her as someone who lived life to the fullest because that’s what her films always tried to reflect. She insisted: “I would like to be remembered as a filmmaker [who] enjoyed life, including pain. This is such a terrible world, but I keep the idea that every day should be interesting. What happens in my days – working, meeting people, listening – convinces me that it’s worth being alive.”
The memoir that truly represents Varda’s final hope is her 1967 documentary Uncle Yanco, the first film from her incredibly eventful time in California. It revolves around Varda’s search for the titular Yanco, one of her father’s cousins who was born in Greece but eventually settled in the US. Although she expected to find a “rich American uncle” (an idea parodied by Chantal Akerman), Varda was incredibly surprised to find a bohemian figure with an infectious love for art.
Varda’s instantaneous bonding with Yanco is inherently cinematic, which is why she once referred to him as “this father of my dreams”. Uncle Yanco is a portrait of an artist by an artist, it’s a poetic search for one’s roots, and it’s also a chronicle of a particular sociopolitical climate that is now lost to us forever. Presented through an experimental structure and a colourful visual style that evokes a deep sense of nostalgia, Uncle Yanco should be essential viewing for all Varda fans.
Watch the film below.
